Canadian Red Cross – Human Suffering is Greater. ca. 1939-1944. Library and Archives Canada, R1300-1190. Copyright expired.
The latest in blog posts, news, and podcasts from the world of Canadian history.
Missed last week’s roundup? Check it out here.
- This week’s mostly commonly used words in #envhist, according to Jessica DeWitt, were: “History,” “Crosby,” and “Professor.”
- NiCHE and the Acadiensis blog published their fifth “Soundings” article. The post, by Alan MacEachern argues that environmental history in Atlantic Canada must be transnational, particularly in the context of the history of the 1825 Miramichi Fire.
- There are going to be a lot of prize winners announcements over the next few weeks. I can’t cover them all, but I do want to note that Elsbeth Heaman won the Canada Prize for her book, Taxes, Order, and Good Government! Congrats, Elsbeth!
- This ad for bicycle face bleach is both fascinating and terrifying.
- There was a new blog post from Borealia this week, on the noted Montreal merchant LeMoyne family, “rogue colonialism,” and the establishment of New Orleans.
- Whoever thought this was a good idea should probably be fired.
- This week on Active History
- Sean Kheraj wrote about the use of virtual reality for history education and public history through an examination of several different existing room-scale experiences.
- Samantha Cutrara is back with another blog post in her look at how different provinces teach history in public schools. This week, she looks at Manitoba.
- Andrew Nurse started a new series exploring the thinking, teaching, and narration of contemporary history, and how the field of history can contribute to discussions of current events.
- Retroactive looked at how archaeologists can use seeds and shells to learn about ancient environments in the area currently known as Alberta.
- The Osgoode Society Oral History program is now on Twitter, @OSOralHistory!
- Lori Parkinson wrote about her recent experience teaching The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative, by Thomas King, to her grade 11 English students.
- The latest biography from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography is for Amos Russ (Gedanst), a Haida leader in the late 19th century
- The Regroupement des chercheurs-res en histoire des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (RCHTQ) ceased publishing its newsletter this week. Older newsletters are in the process of being digitized.
- There are two new entries from The Canadian Encyclopedia this week
- One for Waneek Horn-Miller (Mohawk from Kahnawake), Olympian
- And another for the Barenaked Ladies.
- Check out this neat jersey from the HBC Edmonton store hockey team, The Beavers.
- Stats Can is celebrating its 100th birthday.
- I seriously need to start going to garage sales.
- Tom Peace shared these fantastic public history posters produced by his students in his recent course, Crises and Confederation!
- Samantha Cutrara also published a new article in Canadian Journal of Education, “The Settler Grammar of Canadian History Curriculum: Why Historical Thinking is Unable to Respond to the TRC’s Call to Action.” The post generated a fair amount of discussion online.
- In honour of Friday the Thirteenth, the Ontario Heritage Trust shared this image of Victorian mourning jewelry.
- In the latest episode of the Ben Franklin’s World Podcast, Liz Covart spoke with Virginia DeJohn Anderson about her new book, The Martyr and the Traitor: Nathan Hale, Moses Dunbar, and the American Revolution.
- Russell Potter’s latest blog post examines the subject of “the last resource,” when survivors are driven to cannibalism, and how Charles Dickens refused to believe such a thing was possible in the Franklin Expedition.
- Over on the Beyond the Spectacle blog, Jacqueline Fear-Segal discussed the oral history component of the program, and why it is so important when it comes to the history of Indigenous peoples and their visits to Britain.
- The African American Intellectual History Society held their 2018 conference this past week. Philip Luke Sinitiere reflected on his experiences attending the conference.
- I decided it would be fun to live-tweet an article that I was reading for next Tuesday’s blog post. If you don’t want to see spoilers about my picks for Best New Articles, then don’t read the thread!
- Robyn Lacy is launching a new series profiling small burial sites from across the country! This week, she started with the. St. Saviour’s Anglican Cemetery in Penticton.
- While it’s not really historical, I highly recommend this piece by Andrew Nurse on why many academics place a high emphasis on using appropriate language.
- Take a historic walk down Richmond’s main drag! Now imagine me trudging back and forth along it…
- Do you know the history of charcoal makers in Quebec?
- Ever wonder what it was like to harvest maple syrup in the 1920s?
- Whistorical looks back on the week of April 12th in their archives.
- And the history of air travel to Alta Lake!
- Teredos: once the scourge of Vancouver.
- Would you like to sign up for a webinar with Mary Jane McCallum and Michael Langan on their collaboration to create skateboards on the history of Indian TB Hospitals? Register here!
- Chris Ryan remembers the former drainage ditch, “Lac” Lafontaine.
- The Toronto Public Library looks back on the history of the Toronto Islands.
- Eve Lazarus had a really cool look at eighteen of Vancouver’s “Lost Buildings,” featuring illustrations by Raymond Biesinger.
- There was a fair bit of news from archives and museums this week!
- Nathan “Mudyi” Sentence (Wiradjuri) wrote a must-read piece on the importance of engaging with discomfort in libraries, archives, and museums.
- The City of Montreal Archives remembers the Beach Boys concert of February 19, 1965, and their opening act from Montreal, JB and the Playboys.
- Did you know that this week was the Archives of Ontario Archives Awareness Week?
- The Archives of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto organized a bit of a scavenger hunt for you, as well as a word puzzle!
- Take a look back at menus from Canadian Pacific Railway properties from the 1920s to the 1950s, courtesy of the UBC’s Digitization Blog. Check out the 1941 one in particular…. La plus ça change…
- Larry Dohey commemorated Newfoundlanders who served with the Canadian Corps and at Vimy Ridge this week.
- Anyone for bouillabaisse?
- The Peel Art Gallery, Museum, and Archives “rediscovered” two cool maps of Mississauga.
- The Algoma University Archives has digitized annual reports from Shingwauk IRS from 1877 to 1898.
- The Canadian Museum of History shared an image of this charming French jointer plane. The duck is too cute.
- And they also posted a new blog post on a portrait of Thomas D’Arcy McGee, a birthday gift he did not live to receive.
- And an image of a beautiful Tiffany inkwell.
- And the Archives of the Archdiocese of Toronto shared this fascinating letter from McGee to the Bishop on whether or not to move to Canada, as well a couple of other D’Arcy McGee-related items from their collection!
- Also, the Irish community of Montreal mourned the 150th anniversary of his death. RIP Thomas D’Arcy McGee.
- The Museum of Ontario Archaeology discussed the history of Holcome Points, ancient weapons that have been found in Ohio, Michigan, and Southern Ontario.
- This week on LAC
- They honoured the 101th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
- Added new images to their Flickr Album of Rare Books.
- And explored the mystery of a photograph in a patent leather case, determined to be a rare pannotype. The sitter and the origins of the image, however, are still unknown.
- Lots of new podcasts this week, including:
- The latest episode from NiCHE’s Natures’ Past, featuring Sean Kheraj in conversation with Tina Adcock and Claire Campbell on new research in Canadian environmental history.
- Episode 11 of the On War and Society podcast featured a discussion with Alec Maavara on the Finnish Civil War in 1918.
- And in the final episode of the Lesbian Testimony Podcast (final for this season, we hope!), several individuals discussed the meaning of the term “lesbian,” featuring commentary from Elise Chenier and Megan Walley.
- The St. Catharines Museum Chat podcast this week featured a discussion with Linda Mahood on crime and social regulation in the 1800s, particularly with respect to the Port Dalhousie Jail and the Lincoln County Jail.
- In the latest episode of Witness to Yesterday, Patrice Dutil spoke with Paul Litt about Trudeaumania.
- The Living Heritage Podcast interviewed Anne Manuel about her work with Newfoundland craft, as part of a new series examining craft traditions in Newfoundland and Labrador.
- Active History’s History Chats released their latest episode, featuring Dan Samson’s talk, “Cosmopolitanism in James Berry’s Diary: The Atlantic World Views of a 19th-Century Nova Scotia Miller.”
- I never thought I’d include anything from Sportsnet in the roundup, but I guess there is a first time for everything.
- There were also a lot of great Twitter essays this week!
- Darryl Leroux created a giant mega-thread of all of his previous Twitter essays on settler self-indigenization. Holy cow.
- Ian Mosby kindly live-tweeted a panel featuring Janice Makokis (Nehiyaw Iskwew), Tracey Lindberg (Nehiyaw), Katherine Hensel (Secwepemc), Sylvia McAdam (Sayesewahum) (Treaty 6 descendent, Nehiyaw and Anishnabe), and Erica Violet Lee (Nēhiyaw) on the subject of Indigenous law.
- Joanne Hammond is in Mexico, and wrote about the ingenuity of ancient Maya engineers.
- Bashir Mohamed found this horrifying image in the archives (Trigger warning: KKK), and how racist people have used “free speech” as an excuse for decades.
- Duncan McCue wrote a fantastic piece on how Canadian news media has historically failed Indigenous peoples. I would also add that this inaccurate representation has real-life repercussions for Indigenous peoples living in Canada, both historically and today.
- The film adaptation of Richard Wagamese’s (Ojibwe from the Wabaseemoong Independent Nations in northwestern Ontario) book, Indian Horse comes out this week.
- CBC spoke with Edna Manitowabi (from Wanitowaning on Manitoulin Island) about her experiences, as an IRS survivor, working on the film.
- They also spoke with actor Ajuawak Kapashesit (Ojibwe and Cree), who also happens to be an IRS survivor.
- Jesse Wente spoke about why it matters when non-Indigenous peoples tell stories by or about Indigenous peoples.
- Sean Carleton wrote a review for Canadian Dimension
- And then shared more thoughts in a Twitter essay.
- Johanna Schneller asked the director if he wondered whether an Indigenous director should have done his job.
- Canadian History in the News
- This week, the UBC Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre was officially opened.
- Stephen Smith and Russell Potter recap episode 4 of The Terror.
- Is it just me, or is there something profoundly depressing about a museum having a yard sale?
- A New Brunswick plant, the bulrush sedge, believed to be extinct since the 1940s, has been rediscovered in the wild.
- Harold Bérubé recounts the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919.
- I don’t usually include The Beaverton, but this is really on the nose.
- Timony J. Greene, former chairman of the Makah Tribal Council, argues that traditional Indigenous knowledge should be central in our efforts to understand and cope with climate change.
- Canada Reads is over for another year!
- Mark Sakamoto won with his book, Forgiveness: A Gift from My Grandparents.
- He spoke with Maclean’s about the win, and why we must never forget Japanese internment.
- However, I also happen to think that Jully Black was the real winner.
- Chateau Frontenac is 125-years-old this week.
- Young historian Fatima Mir Baloch, won an award for an essay about Viola Desmond!
- Shirley Tillotson reminds us that no one has ever liked doing their taxes, but that forms used to be waaaay worse.
- It’s not really historical, but Brittany Andrew-Amofah has written a great piece about the upcoming federal government’s nationwide antiracism consultations. As she notes, these consultations need to be done carefully, because so many Canadians are either ignorant of or unwilling to learn about the long history of systemic racism in this country, as well as its present.
- Vincent Mousseau spoke with Robyn Maynard about her latest book, Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present.
- Do you need more reasons to take Indigenous Canada? Here’s one!
- Noted commercial illustrator, Will Davies, who drew more than 500 Harlequin romance novels, is being honoured with a postage stamp. And he’s Andrew Watson’s grandfather! Also being honoured are illustrators Blair Drawson, Gérard Dubois, James Hill, and Anita Kunz.
- Sean Kheraj spoke with the National Post about pipeline building in the 1950s, when it was much easier to get them approved.
- The remains of Fort Clarence are buried under an oil refinery in Halifax, and that’s not likely to change any time soon.
- I love old buildings like this.
- Ok, I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry over this one: LAC told a researcher that it would take 800 years to review materials for an ATIP request. Then they corrected this to 80 years.
- There is a dispute ongoing regarding two headstones from a historic black cemetery in Lakeshore, between two historians and the cemetery caretakers, regarding the care and preservation of the markers.
- Michael Smith has just donated his cookbook collection to the University of Guelph McLaughlin Library Canadian Culinary Arts Collection. The article also highlights how students use the collection, including a mention of Becky Beauseart’s work!
- And librarian Melissa McAfee was interviewed about the collection here.
- Alan MacEachern was profiled by ChathamThisWeek.com for his work on climate history.
- I am both intrigued and terrified of this trial of Sir John A. Macdonald.
- Anna Pingo, an Inuit woman from Inuvialuit, wants to restore her last name to its original version, Pingersugerook. She recently discovered the name was shortened in her grandfather’s day due to Project Surname in the 1970s.
- CBC spoke with Métis artist Kim Stewart about her new exhibit, examining how pop culture stereotypes about First Nations and Métis shared her self-identity. There are some really neat images of some of the objects in the exhibition.
- Debates are ongoing about the fate of a WW2 Lancaster bomber in Toronto.
- Some Catholic churches in Quebec are selling their artifacts to pay the bills.
- There is a move in Puslinch, Ontario to rename Swastika Trail. Yes please.
- Meanwhile, the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Studies has been named after WW1 pilot, RCAF Wing Commander William G. Barker.
- Find out the history of three iconic Canadian hip-hop photographs.
- Better Late than Never
- Find out about the Drouin Collection on the latest episode of the Maple Stars and Stripes podcast.
- The McGill University Library Matters blog announced the solution and the winners of their Valentine contest!
- Joan Sangster and Julia Smith wrote a fantastic piece on how flight attendants have challenged sexist policies and sexual harassment in their industry, from the 1930s until the 1980s.
- Muskoka history, anyone?
- Do you know the history of Vancouver’s Cates Park?
- The latest post on the Scots in BC blog is by Jacob Oosterhoff, and examines HBC employee Archibald Macdonald’s perceptions of and interactions with his Indigenous neighbours.
- The Canadian Centre for the Great War profiled Private Daniel Joseph Fortune, who fought at Vimy Ridge, following the acquisition of his helmet.
- Whistorical looked back at historical films of Alta Lake.
- Don’t be a hippie in Banff in Spring 1969. Also, don’t annoy the people of Banff. They have evil plans.
- Check out some of the cool finds from the latest archaeological dig at Ross Bay Villa in Victoria.
- In yet another example of settlers discovering what Indigenous peoples have known for millennia, Arctic peoples have long had a reciprocal relationship with whales, involving actual dialogue.
- I think I’ll stick to my usual beauty routine, such as it is, but you might want to try Norma Shearer’s.
- I wasn’t sure if I should include this, but a woman has apparently stolen a rock signed by Yoko Ono from the Gardiner Museum. Your guess is as good as mine.
- Nicole W. Forrester asked an important question: why are the Commonwealth Games still a thing?
- Ok, now I want to use a board game to teach the history smuggling on the West Coast. Wouldn’t Settlers of Catan be a great game to teach settler colonialism?
- There is a new $20 coin commemorating one of Canada’s most well-known UFO encounters, at Falcon Lake in 1967. The biggest mystery? Who uses $20 coins?
- Check out this timeline of marajuana history in Canada.
- Calls for Papers
- The American Society for Environmental History has issued a CFP for their 2019 annual meeting. This year’s theme is “Using Environmental History: Rewards and Risks.” Submissions are due July 13.
- The Transport, Traffic, and Mobility Montreal 2018 Conference has issued a CFP for their upcoming conference. This year’s theme is “Boom, Bust and What After? The Lives of Hubs Cities and Their Networks.” Submissions are due May 28.
- The Imperial Entanglements: Trans-Oceanic Basque Networks in British and Spanish Colonialism and Their Legacy Project has issued a CFP for their second annual conference. This year’s theme is “co-dependent empires.” Proposals are due April 20.
- A CFP has just been issued for the Family and Justice in the Archives: Histories and Intimacy in Transnational Perspective conference. Proposals are due May 31.
- The RMC has issued a CFP for an upcoming symposium on “Manpower and the Armies of the British Empire in the Two World Wars.” Proposals are due June 22, and the proceedings will be published as a book.
Special thanks to Stephanie for stepping in to do the roundup last week! For those of you who don’t know this already, I’ve been away because my husband was hospitalized last week. He’s home now, and we’re trying to take it easy. So I hope you enjoyed this week’s roundup. If you did, please consider sharing it on the social media platform of your choice. And don’t forget to check back on Tuesday for a look at my favourite articles from the past month. See you then!
Great links, thanks!